“Which department are you with?” “The military?
CIA?
Homeland Security?” Tony Stark stared at the black-haired young man before him in astonishment.
Tony had scruffy stubble covering his face, a worn-out T-shirt on his body, a glowing “light” in his chest, and a sour stench hanging around him.
“None of them.
My name is Roy.
I’m a private investigator.” “Someone hired me to come to Afghanistan and rescue you.
They’re willing to pay very well.” Roy looked Tony over and answered calmly.
A private investigator?
Not only did Tony look surprised by that answer, but Yinsen beside him was equally puzzled.
Tony had no idea whether Roy was telling the truth, but he didn’t waste time dwelling on it.
He immediately asked, “Who hired you to rescue me?
Obadiah?” Tony didn’t have many friends.
He could count them on one hand.
And among those few friends, only one had the means to spend a fortune hiring someone to save him.
Obadiah Stane!
Roy shook his head.
“No.
The person who hired me was your secretary, Ms.
Potts.” As he spoke, Roy pulled a note from his pocket and placed it on the workbench in front of Tony.
“She came all the way to New York to hire me.
She promised that as long as I got you out, she’d do everything she could to convince you to pay my commission.” “The details are written on the note.
You should recognize her handwriting and signature.” Tony had an odd habit.
He didn’t take things directly from strangers.
Frowning slightly, Tony picked up the note from the workbench.
There wasn’t much written on it, only two or three sentences, so he finished reading it almost immediately.
Thirty million dollars!
However, the thirty-million-dollar commission wasn’t Roy’s main reason for coming here to rescue Tony.
The real reason he’d ventured into the mountains of Afghanistan to save Tony from the Ten Rings was the reward offered by his system.
Become the One-Tail Jinchūriki!
To explain that, one had to start with Roy’s origins.
He wasn’t a native of this world.
He was a transmigrator who had arrived here half a year ago.
Like many transmigrators, he’d simply gone to sleep one day and awakened in another world, complete with the customary cheat ability that seemed to come with the package.
The Ninja System!
As long as Roy completed a commission given to him by another person and recognized as valid by the system, he could obtain various rewards from the Naruto world.
The system’s rewards included, but were not limited to, ninjutsu, Kekkei Genkai, Tailed Beasts, ninja tools, and more.
In other words, as long as Roy completed enough commissions, he could eventually obtain everything from the Sharingan, Rinnegan, and Wood Release to every Tailed Beast and all kinds of ninjutsu.
And if he didn’t like the reward offered by the system?
That wasn’t a problem either.
He could simply refuse the commission without suffering any consequences.
Back to his current commission.
The moment Pepper’s request passed the system’s evaluation and the commission reward appeared, Roy decided he absolutely had to take the job.
Although the reward wasn’t his favorite, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, but instead the One-Tail Jinchūriki, Roy was still extremely satisfied.
Rescuing Tony from the Afghanistan branch of the Ten Rings wasn’t particularly difficult.
At least, it wasn’t difficult for him.
Compared to the difficulty of the commission, becoming the One-Tail Jinchūriki was an absurdly generous reward.
Tony put away the note.
“So how are you planning to get us out of here?” “It’s simple.
We walk out.” Roy answered as calmly as ever.
Before entering the cave, he’d already killed every terrorist outside.
At this point, aside from the three of them, there wasn’t another living person anywhere in the cave or the valley.
Tony was about to ask another question when Roy turned around and started walking toward the cave entrance.
Watching him leave, Tony thought for a moment before turning to Yinsen.
“Burn all the blueprints.
Destroy the computer.” “Got it!” Yinsen didn’t hesitate.
He immediately grabbed the hammer beside him and started smashing the laptop on the workbench with all his strength.
80, 80, 80…
Tony didn’t remain idle either.
He quickly gathered all the blueprints for the Mark I and tossed them into the furnace.
Before long, every blueprint had been reduced to ashes.
After tossing the shattered remains of the laptop into the furnace as well, Tony and Yinsen hurried after Roy.
Bodies of terrorists lay scattered throughout the dim tunnel.
They hadn’t all died the same way.
Some had been stabbed through the heart.
Some had had their throats slit.
Others had been compressed and twisted until their bodies no longer resembled anything human.
Tony and Yinsen could at least understand the ones who had died from being stabbed through the heart or having their throats cut.
Those were conventional ways to die.
Nothing particularly strange about them.
But being crushed and twisted into an inhuman shape?
That wasn’t something they saw every day.
“How did he die?” Tony pointed toward one of the horribly mangled corpses.
“Crushed to death.” Roy replied.
Crushed to death?
Tony stared at Roy in confusion.
Without hesitation, he pressed further.
“How?” Roy stopped walking.
He turned toward Tony, whose face was practically covered in curiosity, and slowly raised his right hand.
Sand Coffin!
Under Roy’s control, the sand on the ground seemed to come alive.
It surged toward the corpse of a terrorist whose throat had been slit, completely wrapping the body inside.
Sand Burial!
Roy silently recited the technique’s name in his mind before abruptly clenching his right fist.
Shouting the name of a ninjutsu didn’t make it any stronger, so Roy had developed the habit of saying the names in his head instead of yelling them aloud.
The sand surrounding the corpse violently compressed.
Under the terrifying pressure, the body was crushed apart in an instant, blood spraying through the gaps between the grains of sand.
“That’s how.” Roy stopped using the technique.
Without his control, the sand fell back to the ground under gravity, revealing the corpse beneath it.
The body had been crushed and twisted beyond human recognition.
How is that possible?
After watching Roy manipulate sand to crush a corpse, Tony and Yinsen both sucked in a sharp breath.
What they’d just witnessed had completely surpassed their understanding of the world.
“Are you a superhuman?” Tony immediately asked.
Although he’d never personally encountered a superhuman before, he’d grown up in America reading plenty of superhero comics, so the concept wasn’t unfamiliar to him.
More than that, shortly before his kidnapping, he’d heard rumors about a vigilante calling himself “Spider-Man” appearing in New York.
“Something like that.” Roy nodded and continued toward the exit.
Seeing that Roy had no intention of explaining further, Tony suppressed his curiosity.
It wasn’t long before they reached the mouth of the cave.
The blazing sunlight caused Tony to instinctively narrow his eyes.
This was only the second time he’d seen sunlight since being kidnapped.
Once his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he immediately surveyed the valley.
Just as when he’d first been brought out of the cave, the valley was packed with weapons and equipment manufactured by Stark Industries.
The difference was that the last time he’d been outside, terrorists had been everywhere.
Now, those terrorists had all become corpses.
Tony was just about to ask what kind of vehicle Roy intended to use to get them out of the valley when Roy once again mobilized the chakra within his body.
The surrounding sand floated into the air.
It gathered together, forming an irregular “sand cloud” large enough for three people to sit on.
The sand cloud wasn’t a ninjutsu.
It was merely an application of Roy’s ability to control sand.
Once the sand cloud finished forming, Roy stepped onto it first.
Tony and Yinsen had assumed it would feel soft beneath their feet, no different from stepping onto loose sand.
They were wrong.
Despite its soft appearance, the sand cloud was as solid as the ground beneath their feet and easily supported their weight.
Once Tony and Yinsen climbed aboard, Roy controlled the sand cloud and lifted it into the air.
“Can you destroy all the weapons in the valley?” Tony suddenly asked.
“I can.” Roy paused.
“But it’ll cost you extra!” “No problem.
How much?” Tony asked without hesitation.
As far as he was concerned, any problem that could be solved with money wasn’t really a problem.
“Five hundred thousand dollars!” “Deal!” Tony agreed without even thinking about it.
As expected of one of the Marvel Universe’s most famous billionaires!
Roy sighed inwardly in admiration.
Then he raised both hands and formed the Horse hand seal.
Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!
The system had granted Roy the talent to cast ninjutsu without forming hand seals.
Yet he still formed one now.
There was no particular reason.
It just looked way cooler that way!